11 Habits of Great SQL Developers

Transcription

1 11 Habits of Great SQL Developers Ike Ellis Data Platform MVP and Partner at Crafting Bytes

2 Crafting Bytes Microsoft Data Platform MVP (2011 Present) Friend of Redgate (2012 Present) Chairperson of the San Diego TIG Co-chairman of the San Diego Software Architecture Group Book co-author Developing Azure Solutions Ike Ellis

3 Agenda Things great SQL developers have in common Great for all developers, not just SQL developers In order to benefit you, not benefit me. #1, #2, #3 are by far the most important This isn t a performance lesson This isn t a SQL internals lesson This isn t a SQL language best practices lesson This is a discussion on the personal habits and characteristics and thought patterns of great SQL developers.

4 Habit #1: Use Source Control

5 Habit #2: Test, test, and test again

6 Habit #2: Testing Best Practices Mask sensitive data Every developer should have their own database Love all testing frameworks tsqlt Visual Studio NUnit SpecFlow BDD testing Cucumber/Gerkin ApprovalTests At minimum, test that the sprocs, views, and functions actually run with the right arguments

7 Habit #3: Always Be Shipping

8 Habit #3: Always Be Shipping Automate, automate, automate Fold tests into deployment process Learn a scripting language PowerShell Azure CLI Grant Fritchey says! Never change an object in production directly Always go through the deployment pipeline

9 Habit #4: Code for resiliency/ code for cloud

10 Habit #5:

11 Habit #6: Software development, at its most fun, is a team sport

12 Habit #6: Software development, at its most fun, is a team sport

13 Habit #6: Software development, at its most fun, is a team sport

14 Know every option Know keystrokes and shortcuts Habit #7: Love your tools Know code navigation Know these tools: SQL Prompt Visual Studio SSMS Profiler Extended Events MS Excel

15 Habit #8: Fight dependencies

16 Habit #8: Fight dependencies Avoid change lock Happens because of dependencies Lack of testing Complicated code Loss of intent

17 Habit #8: Fight dependencies Never allow direct access to your tables for anyone not on your team. It s rude to knock on the back door Fight three part names Database.dbo.tablename Or even worse, four part names Servername.database.dbo.tablename

18 Habit #9: Question, Re-Evaluate, Act Question preconceived notions Biases purpose of new technology your own derived answers Evaluate effect on previous decisions Change your mind and behavior

19 Habit #10:

20 Habit #10: Leave it better than you found it Bad developers work to get the item off their plate so they can do something else Great developers work so that the item is more enjoyable to work on when they re asked again

21 Habit #11:

22 Habit #11: Respond with Urgency Things that erode user trust: Repeated mistakes Half-done code Bugs surfacing at run-time Missed deadlines Bad listening skills Not reading the entire Things that gain user trust: Doing what you said you do when you said you d do it Digging deeper to understand and empathize Doing their work with them, not for them

23 Bonus Habit: Love Your Language Learn new features: CONCAT TRY_CAST Window Functions Memory Optimized Tables and Procedures Columnstore DROP IF EXISTS R Python JSON

24 Bonus Habit: High Performance/Security Two types of team Culture Accident Permeate all conversations

25 Bonus Habit: Time as the most valuable commodity Record victories in excel, google doc, or better yet: Toggl Think about time doing plumbing and maintenance Merging, branching In meetings Moving code to production Maintenance tasks Repeated tasks Take ownership of their habits and their time Make things happen, not happen to them

26 PRIZES TO GIVE AWAY! Next week I ll ship a bunch of laptop stickers to winners Sign up at